LUNCH: Cream of Tomato Soup & Grilled Cheese

You’re scanning the menu choices at the Spring City Hotel.  Pretty familiar fare…burgers, steak sandwiches, meatball and tuna grinders; even the Dominic Special, in homage to owner Bill Hoffman’s grandfather.  Then you see it:  “Lunch.”

Plain.  Simple.  Straightforward.  “Lunch.”

Menu excerpt courtesy Spring City Hotel, used with permission

Spring City Hotel’s take on "Lunch" is a grilled ham and American cheese on a toasted roll with lettuce and tomato.  You’ve got four of the five food groups currently advocated by the USDA in a single sandwich!  (And for those purists who know that a tomato is really a fruit…you’ve hit the Food Pyramid jackpot!)

What would make that “Lunch” heaven on earth?  You know what it is…a bowl of tomato soup!

Remember those days from elementary school?  Chicken noodle or tomato soup with grilled cheese?  Of course tomato was the better choice.  That was “Lunch.”  And cafeteria grilled cheese is in a league all it’s own.  The thick, gooey cheese is totally melted.  The bread is super crispy on the edges, but soft in the middle.  Paradise.

Ah, yes...I remember it well!
(Lunch courtesy of Royersford Elementary School)

Some kids were into dunking their grilled cheese in their soup.  Not me.  I wanted to enjoy them separately.  Not that I was fanatical about enforcing the compartments on the cafeteria tray.  I just didn’t embrace the dunking of a sandwich.  Any baker’s son knew:  Dunking is for donuts.

Grilled cheese sandwiches weren’t always that good at Royersford Elementary School.  There was a time when we didn’t have our own kitchen.  All meals were made at the Jr. High School, (now the 8^th Grade Center…and originally the Royersford High School).  Louise Holoka and her crew did their absolute best, but you haven’t lived until you’ve had a grilled cheese at noon that was made at 9:30 in the morning.  When RES got its own kitchen…that’s when we found out how grilled cheese were made!

A quick lesson in grilled cheese follows, but first the soup.  This is not your typical Campbell’s-style tomato soup.  It’s cream of tomato, so it’s kind of like making Campbell’s condensed with a can of milk.  And it has chunks…some onion, celery, and tomato.  So if you have finicky weasels at home, (a.k.a. “picky eaters” who have trouble with chunks and texture), consider pureeing the whole thing in a blender or food processor, (or use “crushed” instead of “diced” tomatoes).

This soup is amazingly simple and amazingly good.  I got the recipe from Leona Yeager, who attends Parker Ford Church.  She brought it on Christmas Eve for those of us who needed to stay between the 5:00 children’s service and the 7:00 “big people” service.  It was so good…but what isn’t on Christmas Eve?  Leona actually got the recipe from the chef of a well-known Lancaster County restaurant.  We’re keeping it a secret, because you won’t believe how easy it is to make!  It does involve a white sauce, but if you attempted the Parsley Potatoes, (March 16 post), you know all about that!  I’ve actually cut Leona’s recipe in half.  The first time I made it, I kept reaching for a bigger and bigger pot.  I was wondering if it was going to be like Homer Price and the Donut Machine.  (Now that’s dating myself, isn’t it?)  These amounts of ingredients make about a gallon of soup.

CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP

Serves:  a whole bunch of people!

Ingredients:

½ cup chopped onions (one small to medium onion)

½ cup chopped celery (about two stalks)

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup sugar (approx. – you may want to start with a little less)

One 28 oz. can diced tomatoes

One 46 oz. container of tomato juice

½ teaspoon pepper

For white sauce:

¼ lb. butter (I cut this back.  The original recipe called for a stick and a half of butter.)

¾ cup of all-purpose flour

1 quart milk (4 cups)

Put all of the top ingredients in a stock pot and gently boil for about an hour, or until onions and celery are very soft.  I like to use a large pot with a glass lid for two reasons.  I can see what's going on, and the lid has a little vent in it.  That means that I can keep the pot covered to prevent evaporation.

Make the white sauce:  In another pan, melt butter, add flour and mix thoroughly.  This is called a roux, (pronounced, “rue”).  Add about half of the milk, blending until smooth.  This time I used an electric hand blender to get started, which worked well, (see illustration).  Add the remainder of the milk, then heat on high heat, stirring constantly with a spring whisk until the mixture thickens.  (See Parsley Potatoes, March 16 post, for more detailed directions for making a white sauce.)  This is a much thinner white sauce, and will not get thick as noticeably.  If it even starts to look like it’s going to boil, it’s ready.  Remove it from the burner immediately.

Illustration:  Electric hand blender.  This worked well
for the initial blending of the milk and roux (butter and flour mixture)

Combine the white sauce and the tomato mixture.  Blend and heat thoroughly.  It’s best if this soup doesn’t boil as milk has a tendency to curdle when it does.  (That means gets lumpy and separates…never good unless you’re making cheese.)  This soup can be served from a crock pot set on low, especially if you need to have the soup available over an extended period of time.

That’s it.  How easy is that?  And it’s delicious.

Grilled Cheese Basics for Inexperienced Dads:  Bread of your choice, cheese of your choice (use either one very thick slice of cheese, or two for each sandwich), butter or margarine.  Nothing goes inside except the cheese.  Butter the outside of both slices of bread with very soft butter or margarine.  Cold, hard butter will tear the bread.  Get a frying pan, (stove top or electric frying pan), pre-heat on medium heat or slightly hotter.  When hot, put in the sandwiches.  You should hear a slight sizzle...I said slight.  If it sounds like lava hitting the ocean, it's too hot.  Check for golden brown doneness after about a minute or two by lifting a corner with a spatula.  When ready, flip with one continuous motion, as the top slice of bread will not yet be “fastened” to the rest of the sandwich.  If things slip or fall apart, just repair with your spatula.  If you want to cut the sandwiches to serve them, allow to cool for a minute before attempting.  If you don’t believe me, go ahead and try to cut them as soon as they come out of the pan.

“Lunch” is ready!

Special thanks this week to the "Lunch Ladies" of Royersford Elementary School, who always took care of me.  Nothing was ever too much trouble for them.  They always understood when I was too busy to order lunch by 9:00 AM, (like my rules stated), and showed up at 2:00 in the afternoon, starved...just like on the day I stopped by to photograph the lunch tray.  They fed me.  "Some things never change," was cafeteria manager, Nancy Ruoff's assessment.  Is it no wonder that my visits to RES since retirement have either started out or ended up in the kitchen?  Thanks, ladies!  You're the best!

The Lunch Ladies of RES, l to r:  Nancy Kearns, Nancy Ruoff (manager),
Cheryl Santiago, and Debbie Diehl

Baked French Toast

Every dad has a breakfast specialty.  Whether it’s as involved as Eggs Benedict topped with Hollandaise sauce or as simple as syrup and rainbow sprinkles on Corn Pops, dads everywhere have signature dishes they serve up as the first meal of the day.  On any given Saturday or Sunday morning, dads make themselves at home in the kitchen, even if it’s with all of the predictability of their one-hit wonder.  Maybe it’s time to expand your repertoire. 

I enjoy making almost any traditional breakfast dish and will be sharing some of those as time goes by.  Omelets happen to be my thing, and with raising chickens for the last 12 years or so, I’ve had access to an abundance of raw material.  However, omelets will have to wait for another day.

Recently, I was introduced to Baked French Toast.  It was on Ash Wednesday, March 9^th at Shady Maple Smorgasbord in East Earl, PA.  I know what you’re thinking.  The "first day of Lent" and "Shady Maple" appear to contradict one another.  And you would be right…IF we limited what we gave up for Lent to heavy, butter-laden, Lancaster County, carbohydrate-stuffed, belly-bursting Pennsylvania Dutch buffets.  But I’ve always thought that Lent should have a more spiritual focus.  After all, what would the Lord prefer that we sacrifice?  Our time, talents, and treasure…or a sampling of every breakfast meat known to modern man?  I think you know the answer.  Besides, it was my son’s 30^th birthday.  Was it even possible that Matt would give up his free Shady Maple birthday meal?  I think not.

Our six-car caravan left Parker Ford Church at 8:30 a.m. and arrived at “The Shade” in time to be greeted by a line waiting to pay and get in.  The buffet beckons every day but Sunday.  We each paid $9.50 and Matt was “carded.”  After he got the green light, our group of 14 was ushered to two adjacent tables and we were out of the starting gate.  Some ventured off to try one or more of fifteen varieties of pancakes (including sweet potato), others to dictate instructions for the assembling of the omelets of their dreams.  I waited in line for an order of Eggs Benedict and then decided to hit the buffet line to fill any remaining plate spaces with assorted sides.  I thought I had successfully accomplished this and was returning to my seat, when a steam table tray full of Baked French Toast caught my eye.  They were beautiful.  A company of uniformly arranged bread slices smothered in cinnamon bun-like goo, topped with chopped walnuts.  With the precision of a surgeon I grabbed the tongs and performed a toastectomy from the buffet, implanting the newfound delicacy in the last possible opening on my plate.  It was so good.

Baked French Toast eliminates the cooling effect that occurs when you butter and douse syrup on what had been hot French toast.  It comes already assembled!  I resolved to do some research on baked French toast recipes and cataloged the dish for future reference…until last Thursday.  I was visiting Dick Merritt, a former professor from my alma mater, Elizabethtown College, (and dad of three).  Our conversation had turned to food, and unprovoked, he asked me if I had ever had baked French toast.  It was a sign.  It’s his specialty!  And boy, is it delicious.  Here it is:

BAKED FRENCH TOAST

Baked French Toast - I added chopped pecans to half of the slices. 

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Loaf of unsliced crusty bread (or substitute any bread you like)

 (I used Italian bread made by Cuisine de France.  It had some huge holes inside; not as dense as I would have liked.  I thought maybe the Swiss had made it!  The holes mean that the dough either was left to rise too long, or that all of the air was not worked out of the loaves when they were shaped.  Someone at the bakery was not doing their job.  Maybe the French should stick to baguettes and croissants, and leave the Italian bread to the Italians.)

3 Tablespoons butter

¹/₃ cup brown sugar

½ teaspoon almond flavoring

chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts) – optional

two eggs

½ cup milk

¹/₈ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°

In a glass 9” x 13” baking dish, melt the butter in the microwave.  If you have a metal pan, you’ll want to melt the butter in a microwave-safe dish.  (However, if you decide to put the metal pan in the microwave, call me first so I can come and watch.)

To the melted butter, add the brown sugar and almond flavoring and mix thoroughly.  Spread as evenly on the bottom of the dish as you can.  It won’t look like enough, but it’s just the right amount.  If you want to add nuts, now is the time to do that.  I kept one half of the dish plain and used chopped pecans for the other half.  I went a little nuts on the quantity, (as you can see from the picture above), but it was really good.

Slice the bread into ¾” slices.  Beat the two eggs with ½ cup milk.  Add cinnamon.  Dip bread in egg mixture on both sides and arrange in baking dish.  If not all slices have ground cinnamon on them you can sprinkle a little on them if you like.  If possible, make sure that most of the brown sugar mixture is under the slices of bread.

Bake at 350° for a half hour in center of oven.  The slices didn’t brown all that much on the top, (see picture below), but they were perfectly done after a half hour.  Use a spatula to remove and flip the slices of bread brown sugar side up to serve them.  (You may have to separate slices that have baked together.)

Here they are after 30 minutes in a 350° oven; not all that brown, but done perfectly.
Note the holes and cavities in the bread.

There you have it.  It’s just that simple.  Delicious, filling, and so easy even a dad can do it!  Trying adding Baked French Toast to your weekend breakfast repertoire.

P.S.  I'm still working on some icing recipes for Wacky Cake, (see 3/11/11 post).  An Ina Garten peanut butter frosting was recommended and I'm planning to try it over the weekend.  Stay tuned....

P.P.S.  One more thing:  I was chided this week that my directions may not be specific enough for some dads.  DON'T FORGET TO TURN THE OVEN OFF WHEN THE FRENCH TOAST IS FINISHED BAKING!!  (Thanks, Barb!)

Parsley Potatoes

Thanks for all of the positive comments in response to my first blog post.  It seems as though my ruminating had the effect of shaking loose a few other memories for some of you.  Thanks also for two suggestions for perfect icing combinations to last week’s Wacky Cake recipe.  The more I think about it, I’m guessing that as a famished teenager who had eaten lunch in the school cafeteria at 10:30 in the morning, I had no time to even think about icing!  I’m working on getting those icing recipes, (Thin Mint and Peanut Butter), so look for them in a future post.

This week’s post is early…just in time for St. Patrick’s Day.  As an elementary-age kid whenever anyone would ask me what my favorite vegetable was, (and yes, people actually had those kinds of conversations in the 60’s), I would always answer “Parsley Potatoes.”  I would beg my mother to make them.  She never had to ask if I wanted them.  So, if you’re planning to celebrate all things Irish on Thursday, don’t leave out the potatoes!

PARSLEY POTATOES - Don't skimp on the parsley and use fresh!

This recipe is about as simple as it gets, but it does involve making a white sauce.  If you’ve never ventured into the realm of sauces, you are about to be amazed.  For someone who likes to cook, when a white sauce thickens, it’s like the crescendo in a symphony.  Follow the recipe step-by-step, and you’ll be fine.  These directions assume nothing…(so easy, even a dad can do it).  One other note:  I strongly recommend fresh parsley for this one.  While I use dried parsley flakes in a ton of recipes, you can’t beat fresh, and parsley potatoes just aren’t the same without it. 

PARSLEY POTATOES

Serves 4-6 as a side dish

Ingredients:

4-5 medium-size potatoes

3 Tablespoon butter*

3 Tablespoon all-purpose flour*

¼ teaspoon salt

2 cups milk

½ cup fresh parsley – chopped

*If you like a thicker white sauce use 4 Tablespoons of butter and flour.

Peel and then cube the potatoes into the desired size.  I usually make them ½” to ¾”, but bigger is fine.  Put the cubed potatoes into a saucepan and just cover them with water.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a slow boil, and cook until a cake tester (see illustration, below) pierces them without resistance.  You can also test doneness with a fork or a toothpick.  Do not overcook.  Drain the water from the cooked potatoes and leave them in the pan, removed from the burner.  (I'm taking no chances, and leaving nothing to the imagination here!)  Add the chopped parsley to the cooked potatoes.

WHITE SAUCE:  If this is the first time you’ve ever attempted a white sauce, finish preparing the potatoes before starting the sauce.  As you get more comfortable, you can do both at the same time.  In another saucepan, the same size as the small burner on your stovetop, melt the butter over medium heat.  You can add the salt while the butter melts.  When the butter is fully melted, whisk the flour into the butter until it’s smooth.  I strongly recommend using a spring whisk, (see illustration, below), because of its ability to loosen anything that begins to stick on the bottom of the pot…very important for sauces.  When the flour is smooth, without bumps or lumps, add all of the milk at once and increase the burner to high heat.  Begin to stir with the spring whisk to blend the butter and flour with the milk.  Keep stirring.  Do not stop.  Do not leave the stove.  As the mixture gets ready to boil, it will thicken almost instantaneously.  (It’s so cool!)  As soon as it thickens, usually just before it starts to boil, remove the pan from the burner immediately. 

The thickened white sauce can now be added to the potatoes and chopped parsley.  Gently incorporate (mix) the ingredients being careful not to mutilate the potatoes as much as you can.  The parsley potatoes are now ready to serve, although they may need to be heated slightly if the potatoes have cooled while making the white sauce.  Only heat or reheat this dish on fairly low heat, or microwave it.  It will burn easily on the stovetop.  Add salt and pepper to your taste preference.  (In white sauce dishes, some people prefer using white pepper.)

Simple, hearty, and tasty!  Erin go Braugh!

I close with this traditional Irish blessing:

May those who love us, love us.

And for those who don't love us,

May God turn their hearts.

And if he cannot turn their hearts,

May he turn their ankles,

So we may know them by their limping.

May you live as long as you want, and never want as long as you live.

Have fun, and don’t forget to laugh at yourself!

Illustration:  top - wire whisk; bottom - cake tester

Wacky Cake

Welcome to “There’s a Dad in the Kitchen!”  I aim to have a simple, limited ingredient recipe with basic, easy-to-follow, step-by-step directions each week.  So easy, even a dad can do it!

I love to cook.  Working in the kitchen takes me back to a simpler time when my family worked to keep Latshaw’s Bakery running in Spring City, Pennsylvania.  Started by my great-grandfather, Hosea Latshaw, in 1882, Latshaw’s served the Spring City and Royersford communities for 92 years, when it closed in 1974.

Latshaw's Bakery, 1897
(My great-grandmother, Zaidee, is on the right)

My grandmother, Ruth Latshaw-Willauer, bought the business from her father in the 1940’s, and my father, Ray, worked for her as the third generation of bakers, taking over the business from his mother in the 1960’s.  My parents, two brothers and I all worked together at Latshaw’s.  I have to tell you that it was an enriching and rewarding experience.  As with any family, we had our “moments,” but we knew we were it in together, literally working to put bread on the table!

Christmas, 1956
(That's me.  I still have the toque and apron.)

As a result of my exposure to cooking and baking at an early age, I was comfortable around the kitchen.  While my start in the baking business consisted mostly of “pearl diving” (washing pots and pans), I remember being “promoted” to actually working with the baked goods.  Filling donuts and applying icing to sweet rolls was fun, but you knew you had arrived when you were permitted to fry thirty-six donuts at once in the donut fryer.  The epitome of my accomplishments was learning how flip a tray of five dozen cinnamon buns when they had finished baking.  To me, flipping a full pan of molten cinnamon and sugar so that it could flow like lava over the finished product was akin to a stunt that Evel Knievel would perform.  Whenever I did it, I silently played a drum roll in my head.

My comfortability in the kitchen resulted in my frequently baking something at home.  I’d come home from school famished, but with two brothers knew I’d find nothing to eat.  To survive I’d bake a cake, and this week’s recipe was my standard:  Wacky Cake.  I’m not sure how it got its name, but up until that point in time, I’d never heard of a cake recipe that included vinegar.

You simply mix everything together in the order listed until it’s smooth, without any lumps, and bake it.

Here are some pointers:  After adding the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl, run the mixer on a low speed for a few minutes to evenly distribute those items.  Stop the mixer and then add all of the “wet” ingredients.  Again, use a low speed and allow the mixer to run for about five minutes.  Stop the mixer again and use a spatula or scraper to scrape down to the bottom of the bowl, going around the whole circumference.  This loosens any dry ingredients that have stuck to the sides and have not blended into the batter.  Another minute or two of mixing and the batter should be well-blended.  You’re ready to put it into an ungreased, non-stick, 9”x13” pan.  (This recipe will also make two 8”x8” square pans, or two 10” round pans.)

WACKY CAKE

Pre-heat oven to 350°F

“Dry” Ingredients

3 cups flour

6 Tablespoons cocoa

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

“Wet” Ingredients

2/3 cup of vegetable oil

2 teaspoons white vinegar

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups cold water

Place cake pan on an oven rack as close to the middle of the oven space as possible.  Bake at 350° for 40 minutes.

How to tell when most cakes are done:  First, resist the temptation to open the oven door repeatedly to check on progress.  After baking time has elapsed or is within five minutes, the middle of the top should not be dented in.  When a light touch to the middle of the top of the cake bounces back, the cake is ready to come out of the oven.  Place it on a rack or cold stove burner to cool.

This cake is so moist you actually don’t have to put icing on it.  After it’s cool you can sprinkle powdered sugar on top.  And remember, cakes, (unless they have milk in the batter or icing --- or are ice cream cakes), don’t have to be refrigerated.  Cold cake is not the way it was intended to be eaten!

Have fun and enjoy!

Where the Title “There’s a Dad in the Kitchen!” Came From

At Parker Ford Church, where I served as a pastor on a shared ministry team and now serve as an elder, we have a breakfast for everyone in any month with a fifth Sunday.  The menu is often as simple as French toast and sausage and is generally made by some of the men in the church.  As we were preparing one of the fifth Sunday breakfasts, a child burst into the kitchen, froze in his tracks momentarily, then ran from the room shouting, “There are dads in the kitchen!”  The purpose of this blog is to continue the excitement.